This is the right way to remove eggs from a carton

File this under “solutions to a problem you didn’t know you had.”

Apparently, some scientifically-minded folks have looked into the best ways to remove eggs from a carton.

Confession: I have always just plucked them from the carton any which way, without thinking much about it. But there is a logical way to remove eggs from a carton in order to keep it balanced.

In one of his YouTube videos titled “Mind Your Decisons,” Presh Talwalkar presents a problem: “When you have a carton of eggs, people will haphazardly remove the eggs from different sides, leaving an uneven distribution, and it could end up wobbly.”

Do wobbly egg cartons top my list of things that keep me up at night? Nope. But the video is interesting anyway. It reminds me of the soothing voice of the man who teaches my teenagers math on the Kahn Academy videos. To every problem, there is a logical solution. And here’s the solution to wobbly egg cartons:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QlC8tCWpts0%3Fsi%3D-ck6VICW8zJqmWG2

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Actually, there are three solutions.

The first solution is the pluck the eggs out from the opposite corners: front left, back right, back left, front right and so on. This way, the most weight remains in the center of the carton. This is best, Talwalkar says, if you want to grab the carton from the center.

The second solution is to work your way through the egg carton from one end or the other. If you remove the eggs from the left side, for example, it will be easier to pick up the carton from the right side, where the center of gravity will be concentrated.

The third solution is a complex process of removing eggs strategically so the weight is spread out. If you take the second-from-the-left egg out first, then you’ll take the second-from-the-right egg on the other side next. And so on. This keeps the carton perfectly balanced as you remove eggs.

Which solution seems most sensible to you?

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